


A Voice To Command Armies

by LachrymoseLake



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bisexual Bella Swan, Edward is an ass, F/F, First Meetings, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mates, Mild Hurt/Comfort, POV Third Person, Protective Tanya, Realization, Rescue, Soft Tanya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 09:52:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LachrymoseLake/pseuds/LachrymoseLake
Summary: School was out, homework studiously ignored, the drive had been pleasant with Edward’s hand never leaving hers.Perfect.Normal.Until Edward growled.





	A Voice To Command Armies

 

 Autumn’s last rays slowly slid from the horizon, tendrils clinging to barren branches and fallen leaves. The twilight was cold already, the hand in Bella’s doing little to combat it. Crushed pebbles of gravel ground under their feet as they made their way up the Cullen's drive to the front door in comfortable silence. Birds were silent, nests and branches occupied and little heads finding their way under fluffed wings. It was the perfect autumnal day, the atmosphere crisp and fresh.

 

   It wasn’t a particularly special day, except retrospectively. School was out, homework studiously ignored, the drive had been pleasant with Edward’s hand never leaving hers. 

 

   Perfect. 

 

   Normal.

 

   Until Edward growled.

 

   Bella stiffened, wincing as the hand caging hers tightened just a little  _ too  _ much. The closed-door before them swung open, and Edward took a step back, tugging Bella along with him and swiftly behind.

 

   “Edward.” One word was spoken with a well of tapped authority, screamed of age and knowledge. Bella couldn’t see the owner of such a voice. Such a voice as to send shivers down her spine, to draw soft patterns on her skin that coax goosebumps out. Edwards voice was unrecognisable, low and hissed. A cornered animal with its food source threatened.

 

   “Denali.” 

 

   That voice chuckled, low and throaty. Bella dropped her head forward, breathing out a sigh as her insides squirmed, stomach tugging at that tone. Edward tried to swarm her backwards, pushing against her front. He stilled his efforts when that voice spoke again, humoured. 

 

   “Now, Edward, that’s not a nice way to greet your family.” A drawl, accented. Intoxicating. Something in Bella shifted. She tried to pull back from Edward, his hold, his herding, making the panic flail in her chest. He was cold, hard. Hard enough to draw her blood forward, hard enough to bruise her where they connected. She tried to take a step back, but her feet slipped on the stairs up to the front door.   

 

   Bella fell with a yelp, body crumpling with no footing to ground her until she was yanked up by her arm. Her wrist was still trapped in Edwards effortlessly constricting hold, and she hung from it like a ragdoll.

 

   There was a cry that echoed Bellas, and she dropped. Cold dead fingers pulled off her tender hand. Instead of angular concrete bruising her flesh, she was captured by two arms. Held against something cool and solid, something… safe. 

 

   Instead of Edward’s concerned gaze she was expecting, instead of his short coppery hair and angled pale face. Instead of that, Bella found herself cradled by a woman. She had beautiful blonde hair curved around a strong face, piercing amber eyes and a soft smile that could stop a heart.

 

   Bella gulped, breath rapid, heart likewise and shivers licking her stomach.

 

   “Now then, little one,” So that’s who the voice belonged to. The soft smile curled a little further, sharpened teeth peeking out. “Who  _ are you _ , and why has our dear Edward been keeping you from me?”

 

   “What?” Bella whispered, caught in the vampire’s gaze like a fly trapped in honey. She’d never heard her own voice so soft, so wonderstruck. 

 

   “Your name, little one.” Amber eyes were so… gentle on Bella’s face. Voice commanding, and yet oddly affectionate. It set a spark alight in her, a sizzling warmth that had her breath catching at the back of her throat. “What is your name?” A cool hand lifted to gently tuck Bella’s hair from her eyes, stoking smooth fingertips over the curve of her cheek. Bella pushed into the fingers, seeking attention, and then froze, blinking down at the caressing digits strangely. 

 

   “Bella…” Bella murmured as she lifted her hand gingerly touch the cool one that lightly cupped her flushed cheek. She didn’t understand how warmth could emanate from the dead hand, or why Edward always chilled her to the bone. The vampire grinned, dazzling white teeth pinching her bottom lip as she bit it and eyes lighting.

 

   “Bella. How very fitting. Very fitting indeed.” Her words were soft, musical even. “My name is Tanya Denali.”

 

   “Beautiful.” That gaze turned almost bashful at Bella’s wide-eyed look and words.

 

   “I think you’ll find, that’s your name, little one-” A growl, low and inherently  _ dangerous  _ sounded. Tanya tightened her hold. Tighter, but not too tight. Tanya lifted her, holding Bella against her chest as she spun. 

 

   Edward, crouched low, missing an arm. Eyes black. He wasn’t the boy Bella knew, not right now. 

 

   He was a direct threat.

 

   There was a cry from inside the Cullen’s house: Alice. Tanya ran. Bella flung her arms around Tanya’s neck and held on as the world blurred around her. They moved at speeds that stole away Bella’s breath, leaving her gasping at the crook of the vampire’s neck.

 

   She heard the smack of diamond-hard flesh on diamond-hard flesh, like a clap of thunder, an avalanche of boulders.

  
  


   It felt like only a second, ten at most, before the speed was reduced. Care for Bella’s human capacities displayed in the slow descent, instead of a dead stop. 

 

   Tanya righted Bella, arm staying supportively around her lower back as the human gulped air and fought the wave of nausea that was yanking at her insides. 

 

   “Are you okay, Bella?” That voice asked, its resounding timbre comforting in its concerned tone.

 

   “Yeah, yeah. Just, motion sickness.” there was a seconds pause, then Bella's spine stiffened, and she drew herself together. “What happened? Where’d you take me, where’s Edward?” Bella staunchly questioned, and frantically demanded all at once. She straightened, pulling away from Tanya, the feeling of loss surprised her, and pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. She winced, the purpling bruise stinging as she accidentally put pressure on it. Bella winced, jerking her hand away to inspect the damage and she felt the telltale welling of tears. Frustration and pain but equal contributors.

 

   “Bella, just stay calm. It’s okay.”

 

   “I’m not not calm! I’m asking what’s going on. Who even are you? You with your perfect hair, and- and your god-damned hypnotic eyes. Who  _ are  _ you?”

 

   “I’m…” Tanya seemed… lost. She looked down, nervously blinking at the ground and then glanced up at Bella. “I'm Tanya Denali.” 

 

   “Well, Tanya Denali, do you make a habit of stealing random humans?” Bella asked, exasperated, accusing.

 

   “You're not ‘random’. You’re- well… you're  _ my  _ mate…” At that Bella outright scoffed, but it wasn't as convincing as she would have liked.               

 

   “No… no, I'm Edward’s.”

 

   “No one owns you, Bella” Tanya’s eyes bled deeper, darkness swelling and swirling around her iris, but her voice remained soft. Whispered, almost scandalised. “I'm not- I mean, from the moment I saw you I've been yours. Even if you think you are  _ his _ .” She practically hissed out ‘his’, eyes turning flinty before landing on Bella’s hunched shoulders and defensive posture. She softened like butter under the sun. “I'm  _ yours _ .”

 

   “You've only known me for a minute at most!” Bella exclaimed, turning from Tanya and her crestfallen,  _ almost _ heartbroken expression. She stared out over the land; the trees spread below her from the mountain Tanya had somehow run them up. This was ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous, there was no way Tanya was her…  _ mate  _ or anything of the sort. In fact! Bella had basically just been kidnapped by an unknown vampire! Exactly why she wasn’t panicking is beyond her.

 

   “A few minutes was all I needed. I’ve waited for you for a thousand years.” Came the whispered response. It felt wrong, that such a voice would be lowered to such a tentative murmur. A voice to command armies lowered for Bella. She didn’t like it. 

 

   She didn’t know why.

 

   “This is ridiculous.” Bella denied, ignoring the stab in her chest at Tanya’s admission.

 

   “Call me ridiculous, then,” Tanya replied instantly.

 

   “I mean, seriously. You just… just expect me to up and leave Edward, for what? I don’t… You literally kidnapped me! I don’t know where I am, or who you’ve been hanging around with this century, but I do not feel safe! Just… just take me  _ home _ .” Bella ignored her and ranted on.

 

   “Okay,” Tanya acquiesced quickly, eager. She stepped forward slowly to carefully pick up the stiff human, one arm under her legs, and one behind her back. Bella looped her arms around the vampire’s neck, face turned into her own shoulder, and she tried to forget how warm  _ Tanya  _ had felt, even compared to herself.

 

   Tanya ran slowly. Perhaps, Bella considered, slower than was strictly necessary for her human self. The world didn’t blur into sickening swirls of colour, so Bella could see the towering trees, the tumbling boulders that lay dormant from their once quick tumbling down the mountain. 

 

   She didn’t feel herself relax into Tanya’s steady hold, but the vampire cradling her did. 

 

   Soon the view of the forest land and the rugged, snow-capped mountains was swallowed by the forest’s drowsy shadows. Deep emeralds and mint hues twirled together in an epic dance of nature. Pillars of mossy bark support the ceiling. The sunlight shining through almost looked like light trickling through stained glass, casting the world below in lime greens and pale yellows.

 

   Tanya shifted her grip slightly as she ran, effortlessly adjusting Bella, so she was cradled closer to the vampire's neck. Bella automatically buried closer into the hollow created between the shoulder and neck. Bella could barely tear her gaze from the sight around her, never having seen such a land untouched by humanity. How far had Tanya run with Bella? How fast must she be? 

 

   And as if thinking of the stunning vampire was enough, suddenly all Bella's senses tuned into her. She felt the ivory hardness of her skin where she held Bella, the coolness that wasn't cool, that lit fires along her nerves. The slight tickle of blonde hair against Bella's cheek and the smooth pad of a finger that pressed to the hot skin of Bella’s hip just under her shirt.  She caught the scent that hung around the vampire even as she ran, the all-consuming warmth and the… Bella could begrudgingly admit, the rightness that clicked in her bones. Bella turned her head slightly, enough to catch a glimpse of Tanya's golden eyes in the filtered sunlight. It was… she was… 

 

   Those eyes turned to meet her sneaky look. Dark pupils expanded as she blinked down at the human slowly. The amber hue of her iris shrinking. The dark of her eyes was almost hypnotic, growing with every blink and every deep breath of Bella's scent.  

 

   Bella really wanted to deny the tug in her stomach, the flutter in her chest, but she was sure Tanya could feel her heart stutter. 

 

   “Can I show you something?” Tanya asked softly, barely a twitch of her jaw. Eyes never straying. “I think you might like it, and it wouldn’t be too out of the way. I'll get you home, I promise.” and Bella explicitly, and without doubt, believed her.

 

   “What do you want to show me?” Bella demanded with as much force as she could. It was a genuinely pitiful amount. Tanya just smiled slightly, only the faintest uptick of her lips and shook her head. Pale hair danced, tickling across Bella's cheek and it was hard to be annoyed.

 

   “Just… can I show you?”

 

   Bella nodded.

 

   Tanya held her tighter, focusing on something further away, concentrating. Then the speed picked up. The world blurred, but not uncomfortably so. A couple of seconds, a slight direction change and then they were there.

 

   Tanya slowed, gently placing Bella onto the forest floor behind a rambling bush, her hand settling uncertainly on the small of the humans back. She inched forward, quieting Bella's protests and questions by coaxing her along until Tanya could slowly pull the branches aside to reveal the inner clearing.  

 

   Bella's breath caught. 

 

   In the clearing, neck bent to drink steadily, elegantly, was a doe and foal. They watched the foal's ears flick, nose twitching as it nibbled young blades. It was such a peaceful picture, a snapshot of the forest’s every day. Something Bella was sure she would never have seen without vampiric help.

 

   Again, despite the beautiful scene in front of her, Bella found herself glancing sideways, glancing at Tanya. At the soft reflecting of light through her hair and through the leaves up above, at the smooth perfection of her pale skin, the soft pink of her lips that seemed to alive in juxtaposition to her complexion. She ever found herself looking at how one elegant hand supported Tanya on the first floor, the definition of thin bones and gentle cushions of flesh beneath rock hard skin. The hand on Bella’s back suddenly felt inescapable, and what worried Bella most, is that she had no real desire to run from it.

 

   Nervously aware of her rather unsubtle staring, Bella quickly looked back at the view by the river, of the frolicking calf and indulgent mother. How many times had Tanya run across things like this? How many times had she ended scenes like this with swift flicks of her wrists and two sharp fangs? And yet, Tanya had thought of Bella, and brought her here to see it for herself. It was… sweet. Thoughtful, and surprisingly caring for someone she’d only just met.

 

   With a deep breath, Bella chanced a glance over at the vampire beside her and- oh. Swirling black eyes met her own, caught them in an embrace Bella  _ really  _ didn’t want to leave. A thin, flecked ring of amber was the only thing that separated Tanya’s look and the look Edward had given her. That and something more profound than the physical, something Bella couldn’t place. Some feeling of safety. Of wholeness. Of- oh.

 

   Tanya really was… she really was her mate. 

 

   Oh.

 

   As if the realisation played on Bella’s face like Shakespeare, Tanya smiled that soft little smile. Like she knew. 

 

   She probably did.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Personally, I love this pairing and wish there was more of Bella/any of the Denali sisters (Or all of them...) 
> 
> So, as I like reading them so much, I thought I would try writing them. I'm not even too upset with the outcome, so that's a plus! Although, I do seem to be a massive fan of 'unnecessary ellipsis'... personally I think all ellipses are necessary! Take that Grammarly! 
> 
> Anyway, feedback would be lovely, prompts are welcome, kudos are life, and I wish everyone the best with their life endeavours!


End file.
